Pastelón de Espaguetis Recipe (Spaghetti Casserole)

Pastelón de Espaguetis Recipe (Spaghetti Casserole): A whole meal in itself and a very delicious one, it will be very popular with the little ones. I remember this dish from many a childhood Sunday meal.

Course Dinner, Lunch

Cuisine Dominican, Fusion, Italian

Keyword kids, one-pot meal, potlucks

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings portions

Calories 354kcal

Author Clara Gonzalez

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
½ pound [0.23 kg] of spaghetti or short pasta of your choice
2 teaspoons salt (or more, to taste), divided
12 large tomato , peeled and diced
1 oregano (dry, ground)
3 tablespoons of basil finely chopped
2 garlic cloves , crushed
1 minced bell pepper
½ cup water
2 cups tomato sauce
½ cup capers
½ cup pitted green olives , cut into slices
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon pepper (freshly-cracked, or ground) (or more, to taste)
A few basil leaves for decoration
½ cup grated mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Boil the pasta al dente, adding a teaspoon of salt to the water.
In a heavy saucepan heat the remaining oil over low heat.
Cook and stir the tomatoes, oregano, chopped basil, garlic and bell peppers over low heat until the tomatoes are tender.
Add water and tomato sauce.
Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Reserve half of the tomato sauce for serving.
Mix in capers and olives with the tomato sauce.
Add parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add the spaghetti to the tomato sauce and mix well.
Pour in the pasta into a 6" [15 cm] non-stick mold. Lightly press with a fork to compact. Cover with the mozzarella.
Heat oven to 300 °F [150 °C].
Bake covered with aluminum foil for 20 minutes. Cool down for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.
Garnish with basil and the tomato sauce you had reserved. Serve with green salad.

Notes

You can use short pasta too for this one, macaroni is especially good as it retains the sauce better and makes for a moister casserole.

Nutrition